When They Realized
by Kageteiou
Summary: Rukia has been kidnapped, and now Zangetsu appears before Ichigo, after bringing him to his inner world a battle ensues with his inner hollow. As thing begin to look bleak Ichigo discovers what he can't live without.Final chapter complete.
1. Nineteen Years Later

Ichigo and Rukia sat expectantly as the event was about to begin. Today was the day that their twin children would graduate from the Soul Reaper Academy. Kaien and his twin sister Orihime had entered the academy at the same time at age nine, and were considered to be geniuses. Kaien was a master of hand to hand combat and swordsmanship, no doubt learned from. Orihime on the other hand had top grades in all of her kido classes, just as her mother did before her.

"Ichigo…why are we here, this isn't actually a public event," she whispered to her husband. She was pregnant with their third child and looked as though the baby would come any day now. She had only grown in beauty since her and Ichigo had become a couple Eighteen years ago, at least in Ichigo's eyes.

"Come on, back in the human world this kind of thing is a big deal," he said pleadingly. "I want to see all the important events in my children's life." "Besides, would I be Number One Dad if I didn't," he said with a smile. Unfortunately, Ichigo had become exactly like his dad after becoming a father.

"You idiot why did you where that shirt here, you're going to embarrass them," she said fuming. "More importantly, where did you get that shirt from anyways?" "Getting back on subject, this isn't the human world you know, here the students are congratulated and are then sent to be tested for soul reaper duty."

"Embarrass them…what is so embarrassing about having the captain of the third squad and the assistant captain of the thirteenth squad come to see them graduate," he shot back, clearly not hearing the rest of what Rukia had said.

"Fine…just try not to make a scene," she replied back giving up on the conversation. She reached out and grabbed Ichigo's hand. The two gave each other a loving smile and kissed each other deeply. They watched as each student was congratulated and given a certificate of completion of the academy one by one until only a few remained.

They saw their son step forward first. Like his father he had brilliant orange hair, but had his mother's violet eyes. In the six years since he had joined the academy he had grown taller than his mother, but was still much shorter than his father. He had inherited Ichigo's bad attitude from his high school days and was known to be a stubborn as a mule. On the other hand, he had also inherited his father's determination and strength. Upon receiving his certificate he quickly returned to his friends. A girl in the group stopped him suddenly. It was too far away to hear, but she seemed to be congratulating him while blushingly furiously.

"Who's that?" Ichigo asked curiously.

"You can't be serious…You really do have a hard time remembering people," Rukia exclaimed quickly. "Look at that bright red hair, who else could it be," she said frustrated. She couldn't believe he was still having trouble remembering her. "Asuka Abarai," she said.

"That's Renji and Tatsuki's kid," he said skeptically. "Wow, she's really grown…I'm surprised she doesn't have tattoos all over her." "Then again, if that happened, Tatsuki would probably kick Renji's ass." It was hard to believe that the two of them had gotten together. Maybe both of them were just trying to fill the hole in their hearts. The only ones who knew the answer to that were the two of them.

Ichigo and Rukia then turned to watch their daughter step forward to accept her certificate. She had long brown hair, with the same color eyes as her father. She was also roughly the same height as her mother. Her personality was also similar to her father's, but was more reminiscent of the childhood Ichigo. She was always quick to tears, but would always light up whenever her mother and father were around. She was without equal when it came to kido spells, but was never the toughest person. Her and her brother were always at odds with each other and would bicker constantly. At the moment, she seemed to be glaring angrily back at the boy standing behind her while looking like she was about to cry.

"What's she so mad about?" Ichigo asked.

"She told me earlier today that that boy has been picking on her recently," Rukia replied. "She was upset with me after I laughed at the situation," she said.

"So why'd you laugh? He asked.

"Apparently, he has been calling her midget, idiot, and making fun of how bad her drawings are," she said. "Sound familiar to you?" she said with a smile.

"Sure does," Ichigo said with a smirk. He held Rukia's hand tightly and felt her smooth delicate skin. He felt as though his world would stop spinning without her in it. He couldn't believe how blind he was when they first met. As Orihime's certificate traded hands, Ichigo jumped up suddenly.

"YEAHHHHHH…WAY TO GO!!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Rukia tried to squirm away from as to not be associated with him. An impossible endeavor, all residents of the Soul Society knew of the Kurosaki clan by now, especially the famous Captain Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Captain Kurosaki please maintain your composure if you must attend this event," the head instructor said angrily.

"Oh…um….sorry," Ichigo said with an embarrassed laugh.

"Can we get a new dad, he's way too embarrassing," the twins said in unison.

After the ceremony the couple walked home with Orihime. Kaien had been dragged off by his friends before he had a chance to meet up with the family. After the initial embarrassment their father had caused the twins had gone back to being excited about their upcoming testing to join the Thirteen Court Guard.

"Now don't get to excited about tomorrow Orihime," Ichigo said sternly. "Several other captains and I will be administering the test and don't expect me to go easy on you just because you're my kids."

"Yeah right Dad whatever you say," she said clearly not paying attention.

"Oh yeah Orihime, I hear that some boy has been picking on you," he said. "If you ask me, it sounds like you in my opinion."

"Not you too Dad, that's exactly what Mom said," she said as blush began to appear across her face. "What kind of guy picks on a girl he likes?"

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other and smiled. "Your mother and I started out that way, and now look at us," he said.

"Oh god please don't talk like that…that's the last thing I wanna hear about," Orihime said. There was a long pause before she said anything else. "Um…when did you two realize you had feelings for each other?" she asked quietly. She looked up at her parents and noticed that they had a sad expression on their faces. She wondered if she may have made a wrong move asking that question. Suddenly, Ichigo broke the silence.

'It was a year after a very close friend of ours died," he said sadly. "It all started eighteen years ago."…


	2. The Guilt

Eighteen Years prior....

He watched as the Cero burst through her body. He had been unable to avoid Aizen's attack and Orihime stood in the way using her shield in an effort to stop the blast. He screamed for her to get out of the way, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. She was risking everything to keep him safe. Unfortunately, she had vastly underestimated Aizen's power. He screamed at his body to move, but he hardly had the strength to stand, let alone do anything to help her. Ichigo stood transfixed, refusing to believe what he was witnessing. All he could do was watch in horror as the tragic event unfolded.

"You let me die," her bodiless voice said coldly.

"No…Orihime!!!" he yelled as he woke from the nightmare. He knew that if the memory had continued he would have seen his body transform and utterly defeat Aizen. It was a hollow victory, he was no longer in control of his actions and the person who had fought so hard to rescue from Huenco Mundo lay dead before him. Every night since that horrible day he had the same dream. His mind was tormenting him every night for his inaction. Each time he would go through and try to figure out if there was anything he could have done differently. However, each time the scenario seemed to end the same way.

He scanned his surroundings quickly. He was in the Third Squad barracks. After the Winter War three captain positions had opened. Due to his efforts during the battle, a majority of the captains personally recommended him for one of those positions. Though reluctant at first, he began to feel as though the Soul Society might serve as an escape from her memory. However, the Soul Society provided no respite from his nightmares.

He looked at the days date and his mood only worsened. It was the anniversary of his mother's death. He slowly rose from his bed and held his head in frustration. Why did everyone who cared for him always end up getting hurt? He abruptly decided to visit his mother's grave. He knew no answer would be found there, but staying here didn't seem right either.

"Miss Kuchiki, Miss Kuchiki," Captain Ukitake yelled at the young noble from his squad. "Have you seen Captain Kurosaki?" He asked Rukia quickly.

"Ichigo…I mean Captain Kurosaki is the strongest person in the Soul Society, can't you sense where he is?" she replied.

"Not really, lately has become very adept at hiding his own spiritual pressure," he said. "He hasn't been the same confident person he has been in the past." "Anyways, he was absent from the captain's meeting this morning, and I figured since you are his friend you might know where he went," he said.

Rukia gave a slight laugh trying to hide the hurt expression. "Sorry Captain, we hardly speak anymore…I couldn't tell you where he is," she said sadly. "I think he blames the others and me for what happened."

"I think you misunderstand his intentions," he said quickly. He saw that she was deeply troubled by the change in the change in the relationship between her and his fellow captain. "He seems to be deeply troubled about the death of that girl your group was trying to rescue," he said. "I believe he thinks that if he allows any of you to remain close, he could risk losing one of you just as he did her." He looked up to see that his subordinate's expression still had not changed. "You really care for him don't you?" he asked.

"Of course I do, we were friends," she replied as if the answer went without saying.

"That's not what I mean Rukia and you know it," he said sternly. "You try to hide it, but your feelings are written all over your face." "I first suspected when Captain Abarai told me of your reason for entering Huenco Mundo." "I suppose it couldn't be helped, the resemblance is uncanny…"

"Truthfully, when I first met Ichigo it never occurred to me that he resembled Kaien," she said. "He was just a boy who was doing my job as a soul reaper until my powers returned." "However, we quickly developed a friendship and it wasn't long before it became more than that for one of us." "I saw his inner pain, when he was only a child his mother…" A sudden realization struck her as the words left her mouth. "Captain, do you know what day it is in the human world?" she asked.

"I believe its June 17, why do you ask?" he responded.

"It's nothing, captain if you'll excuse me…I believe I know where to find our lost captain," she said and ran away as if on a mission. Captain Ukitake grinned as he watched his Subordinate leave. How long had it been since he saw her so lively. "Captain Kurosaki, keep her safe it is quite apparent that she loves you, though neither of you may realize it," he said out loud.

"Hello, Mom its Ichigo," he said in front of his mother's grave. Like that day so long ago it was a dreary rainy day. Sometimes he even thought that the rain represented the tears he always tried to force back. "It seems like only yesterday that I last saw your smiling face," he said as he tried to fake a smile. He couldn't manage to keep the smile on his face. "I failed again Mom, I tried to save someone and ended up getting saved again," he said no longer able to hold back his tears. "Dad said my name means one who protects," he said. "It can't be true, if I can't protect the ones that care about me most!" "No one should die because of me, which is why I pushed the others away." He suddenly realized the futility of his current actions. "What am I doing…You can't hear me, your soul was devoured by a hollow."

"I thought I'd find you here," a voice called from behind him. He turned to see Rukia standing in front of him. She was completely drenched by the heavy rain just as he was, and wore a sympathetic expression on her face. "Rukia?" he said shocked at her sudden appearance.

"Do you still blame yourself for her death?" she asked.

"I realize that it was Grand Fisher was the one responsible for her death, but I still can't completely forgive myself for causing her death," he said sadly.

"You fool, I wasn't talking about your mother," she responded with a hint of frustration in her voice. "It has been over a year now, and you have almost completely changed into a different person," she said. She looked across the way at the grave marked with Orihime's name. "What she did was very brave." "It was a war, many of our friends and allies were hurt or killed on that day, but she gave her life for yours," she said.

"That's exactly the point she shouldn't have had to die, I should have been able to protect her!" he yelled.

"That's not the only brave thing she did that day," she said ignoring Ichigo's sudden outburst. She seemed to be trying to find the right words to say.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"She ad…," her words were cut short as a cloaked figure grabbed her from behind and placed a hand over her mouth. The hole where the figure's stomach should be revealed it was an Arrancar, but it had its face covered with the hood of the cloak. More importantly, why did the Arrancar need to hide its face anyways? Before he had a chance to wrestle Rukia away from the figure's clutches, the two vanished in an instant.

"Rukia!!!" he yelled in a panic. "Rukia!!!"


	3. Revelation In the Inner World

Ichigo punched the ground in frustration. He had tried, but he couldn't sense Rukia or the stranger's spiritual pressure anywhere. He ran through the events that had just happened, and was clearly confused. He never felt the stranger's spiritual pressure until Rukia was already in its grasp. He knew he wasn't the greatest at detecting spiritual pressure, but it had never been that bad. That wasn't the only thing. He couldn't put a finger on it, but there was something familiar about the Hollow.

"You seem to be in quite the dilemma," an all too familiar voice called from behind him. Ichigo turned to see the face of the former captain of twelfth company Kisuke Urahara. "I guess I should be a little more formal and call you Captain Kurosaki but…," he said. He stabbed the ground immediately in front of Ichigo. "Does someone with such a pathetic expression on his face really deserve that title?"

The blade was so close to his face he could feel his breath blowing against it. "What the hell, are you trying to kill me," Ichigo said as he threw Kisuke away from him.

"So what if I am, what will you do about it?" he asked. "Look at you, Rukia is in danger, and you are already worried about what happens if you fail," he critiqued. "What happened to all your resolve…You are a shadow of what you were only a year ago," he said.

"This isn't the time for this," Ichigo said as he raised Zangetsu to clash with Urahara's blade. "Someone has to save Rukia!" he yelled. Something wasn't right, Urahara wasn't attacking with Benihime, and he wasn't speaking as he usually does.

"You're right, someone does need to save Rukia," the figure impersonating Urahara said. "There's no need to keep up this deception," Zangetsu's physical form said as he revealed his true form.

"Zangetsu, why are you here?" Ichigo asked angrily. "Like I said before we don't have the time for this," he said.

"Now is the only time," Zangetsu replied. In an instant the scene had changed, the pair was no longer in the cemetery, but instead in Ichigo's strange sideways inner world. "Maybe if you know what you can't live without you'll find your resolve again," he said. "Maybe then the rain will stop right here."

Ichigo hadn't noticed the constant downpour until it was mentioned to him. He had to admit it was strange. Of all the times he had been sent to this world, never once had it been raining. What confused him the most though was Zangetsu's previous statement. "What I can't live without…?" Ichigo asked reiterating Zangetsu's statement. "What do you mean?"

"You will know…if you survive," Zangetsu said quickly.

"If I…" he said before his words were cut off. A completely white version of Tensa Zangetsu narrowly missed piercing his body.

"It's been a long time…Partner," Ichigo's inner hollow said in his usual sadistic tone. "I've come to claim my throne!" He then transformed into the hollow form used to defeat Aizen and Ulquiorra during the Winter War. "This time I'm playing for keeps."

"Bankai…Tensa Zangetsu!" Ichigo yelled as his spiritual pressure rose and his shihakusho and sword changed form. He then materialized a hollow mask and began to put it to his face. Before he knew it however, the mask instantly disintegrated. A look of shock crossed his face as he looked at his opponent.

"You look so surprised King, did you really think I'd lend you my power to defeat me?" His inner hollow asked mockingly. He began to twirl his version of Tensa Zangetsu on a single fingertip. "Are you Ready King?" he said as he charged Ichigo.

The duo's swords clashed again and again, and at first it seemed as though neither had the upper hand. Ichigo launched a series of Getsuga Tenshous which the hollow easily parried with a series of his own. Ichigo's white Getsugas clashed with his hollow's black versions. After the blasts subsided the hollow went on the offensive. He launched a series of attacks in the berserker fighting style he had used so often. Ichigo was being pushed back. He could feel the tide of battle changing in his opponent's favor.

"Do you feel it King?" his inner hollow sneered. "You will die here, the battle is already lost," he said.

"I won't lose here…I have to save Rukia," Ichigo said. Zangetsu's words suddenly echoed in his head

"It seems you have found some of your resolve again Ichigo, but you still have to let go of guilt," Zangetsu said.

"Don't help him Zangetsu!" the hollow yelled. "Let him wallow in his misery…I let her die…I should have done something to help her," he said mocking Ichigo's inner thoughts. "In the end, I was the one who had to step in and defeat Aizen.""You have to save Rukia…I could care less what happens to her," he said.

"Shut up!!!" Ichigo yelled. He began t concentrate A Getsuga around the blade of His Tensa Zangetsu and launched his attack. However, his inner hollow simply blocked the attack with a single hand.

"Not good enough," the hollow said. "Cero!!!" he yelled.

The blast tore through the sky and hit Ichigo dead on. The blast sent him crashing to the wall of a building that was serving as the ground in this world. He crashed through each building one by one. Finally, he managed to regain his footing. He stood up quickly, but the damage he had received was apparent. Most of his shihakusho had been ripped completely off. Blood was pouring out of various wounds on his body. He took a look at his surroundings, and realized that this was a very different version of his inner world. It was no longer turned on its side. The ground he stood on was the actual ground. The most important difference was that it was not raining, it was instead snowing.

He saw what appeared to be a small frozen pond near his location. For reasons he didn't understand he felt compelled to walk nearer to it. As he closed the distance between him and the pond he glanced down into it and saw specific memories playing in the image reflected back to him. He saw when he first met Rukia. He saw when Rukia asked how his mother had died. He saw when Rukia with tears in her eyes told him not to go after him. He saw other various memories, but one thing was always constant….Rukia. He began to realize what it meant. He loved her. She was the one thing he couldn't live without. Guilt had no place in his heart, there was only Rukia.

His inner hollow landed on the ground and concentrated all of his spiritual pressure into a single Cero. "Time for the true king to take his throne!" he yelled as he released the blast.

Ichigo easily deflected the blast, and drove his zanpakuto deep into the hollow's body. "You're right, now disappear," he said coldly. He heard the hollow curse his name as he slowly vanished. The scene had changed once again, and he realized he was once again in the real world. He was once again staring in the face of Kisuke Urahara.

"Is that you Urahara?" he asked.

"Who else would it be?" Kisuke asked back to him. "Did you get hit in the head or something Mr. Kurosaki?"

"Whatever… I have to find Rukia, she was kidnapped…" he said before being interrupted by Urahara.

"By a hollow I know, though both their spiritual pressures disappeared so suddenly," he said as he finished Ichigo's sentence. "However, there is only one place a hollow goes after an attack, and that's Huenco Mundo."


	4. The Hero and the Nightmare

As Rukia regained consciousness she scanned her surroundings, and tried to remember the chain of events that led to her being in this strange place. She was in a cemetery in the human world about to confess her feelings for Ichigo to him, when she was suddenly abducted. Her abductor's spiritual pressure had a hint of familiarity to it. What was it? She wished she could put a finger on it. The area she was currently in a place that was both very vast and very dark. At first she wondered if she was maybe in Huenco Mundo. She realized the answer was no, this place was similar but one thing set it apart. That difference was that Huenco Mundo was a desert realm. This place however showed no sign of any desert, but instead a large eerie forest.

She suddenly realized that she was not the only one there. She saw the man she had grown to care about so much standing before her. However, something seemed a little off about him. He constantly held his back to her. She tried to approach him, but immediately felt his spiritual pressure begin to crush down on her as she approached. She backed up enough to escape the spiritual pressure, and looked back at him. Why did he not want her to get any nearer?

"Rukia, back there in the human world you were going to tell me something…what was it?" Ichigo said with a hint of coldness in his tone.

"Ichigo, this isn't the place for that conversation," she replied. She didn't like this place, there seemed to be something evil about it. Something seemed to have changed in Ichigo as well. It was if she didn't recognize him anymore.

"Tell me!!!" he yelled angrily.

"I was going to tell you the other brave thing Orihime did that day was admit to you how she really felt about you!" she yelled with tears beginning to run down her face. "I tried to deny it at first…tried to shake it off as just useless human emotions." "Eventually however, I came to realize the truth…I love you!!!" she yelled.

"That's what I thought you were going to say," he said. "I suppose this is where I'm supposed to say I love you to…right?" he said coldly. "Why would I love someone who I can't depend on?"

She felt her heart begin to break. She wasn't expecting to return her feelings she didn't think Ichigo was a person who could just express the way he feels. However, his remarks had only hatred behind them. Where was this resentment coming from? Had their relationship changed that much in the past year?

"You, Renji, Chad, Uuryu…all of you watched as she died, and none of you lifted a finger to help her!" he yelled as anger began to rise even further. His body began to change right before her eyes, after the transformation had finished the hollow form that Ichigo had transformed into to defeat Aizen. Even back then that form had filled her with terror. "One of you has to pay!" he yelled.

In an instant she felt him wrap a clawed hand around her neck. She felt him begin to squeeze the life out of her. Was this really how her life would end, killed by the man who once fought so hard to save her? Would she be killed by the man she loved? He suddenly threw across the area, and she landed with a thud that knocked the wind out of her. When she looked back at Ichigo, he was pointing a powerful Cero in her direction.

Ichigo arrived through the Garganta that Urahara had created and desperately tried to find Rukia or her Abductor's spiritual pressure. It wasn't long before he found them nearby. Rukia seemed to be in terrible pain, and her spiritual pressure seemed to be beginning to fade. That was the only thing he needed to know. He used flash step to close the distance between them and saw the hollow with its hand around Rukia's neck. He instant released his Bankai and used his zanpakuto to chop the hollow's hand off, throwing the hand off Rukia after the attack. He heard the hollow scream in agony, and noticed its distinctively female wail.

"Who are you, you're spiritual pressure seems familiar?" he asked Rukia's attacker.

"You don't remember me…that breaks my heart," she said with a maniacal laugh. She threw the cloak off her body revealing a face he thought he would never see again. The face that looked back at him was the face of Orihime Inoue. "After all, it is because of you that I died," she said as she instantly regenerated her hand.

Ichigo's response was not what the hollow expected. Instead of crumbling to his knees from the realization, he instead released a Getsuga Tenshou in her direction.

"Is that the best you got…a face with a guilt trip attached?" he asked angrily. "Orihime was still in a spiritual form when she died, there's no way you could be her!" he yelled. He charged at her with a Getsuga covering his Tensa Zangetsu. She quickly drew her own zanpakuto and countered each of his blows one by one. He disappeared in a flash, and reappeared an instant later cutting off her arm. "Why don't you show your real form," he said.

"I see there's no fooling you ryoka boy," the hollow said as its form changed. The form that emerged was the form of a man. However, where his face should there was nothing but a pair of evil eyes and a broken hollow mask. The hollow's arm once again instantly regenerated. At first, Ichigo thought that the hollow had to be Aizen. After all, Aizen was the only one he knew that ever called him ryoka boy. Then he took a closer look at the hollow. Glittering in the center of his chest was a shard of what could only be one thing. "So, you figured it out!" the hollow said. "Yes, I am the Hogyoku, but at the same time part of every person who has come in contact with me is also a part of me as well." "Aizen's desire to get his revenge on you was combined with the knowledge from your friend showed me the thing you held most precious."

"You shouldn't have told me that!" he yelled as he put the hollow mask to his face. In an instant he performed a killing blow that sliced the hollow formed around the Hogyoku shard. Its broken form crumpled to the ground. Without wasting an instant he ran to Rukia. She looked like she was in a deep trance. Her body was trembling, and she acted as if there was still a hand over her throat. He tried to shake her out of the trance, but it was to no avail.

"It is useless boy, she will die before you have a chance to save her," the broken hollow said.

"SHUT UP!!!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He launched a Getsuga Tenshou at the hollow and watched as the shard finally disappeared. He went back to Rukia's side. "Come on Rukia please wake up."

She struggle against the weight that Ichigo was pressing down on her neck. She still couldn't believe that this was how it was going to end. Just as she was about to give up she saw the figure of a woman dressed entirely in white with long white hair walk up behind Ichigo. With a simple touch Ichigo was instantly frozen.

"Come, he is waiting for you," Sode no Shirayuki said as she lifted Rukia from underneath Ichigo.

"Who's waiting for me?"Rukia asked curiously.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," the physical form of Rukia's zanpakuto said.

"What are you talking about, Ichigo is right there…you just stopped him from killing me?" she asked with a yell.

"I will make you see," Sode no Shirayuki said as she touched a finger to Rukia's head. In an instant the two were teleported to a new area. It was an area with a small frozen pond at its center and constantly falling snow.

"What is this place?" Rukia asked with a shocked and curious look on her face.

"This place is the love the two of you share," her zanpakuto said. "Ichigo was here only hours ago." "You should be able to hear him now," she said. Rukia was about to ask what her zanpakuto meant when suddenly she heard her beloved's voice.

"Rukia please wake up," she heard him plead. "Rukia please wake up, I need you!" "Rukia please…I love you!!!"

Slowly she snapped out of her daze and saw him looking down at her. Tears were streaming down his face. "I'm okay," she said. In an instant he pulled her in close to his chest. He placed his arms around her and held her tightly.

"I was afraid I was going to lose you!" he yelled trying to choke back his tears. "I couldn't take that…not when I just realized how important you are to me," he said.

"I thought you blamed all of us for Orihime's death," she confessed. He placed a hand on her face, and then pulled her in and gave her a long kiss.

"I could never hold responsible for that, she died trying to protect me nothing you could have done would have changed her decision "he said after the kiss. "I only pushed you away because I didn't want to lose anyone else." "How stupid I was not to realize I was pushing away the person I loved the most," he confessed.

From there on, their relationship began to change. No longer were they two close friends. They were something much, much more. Nothing could separate them now. He would do anything in his power to protect, and she would do the same.


End file.
